A 1957 British horror movie directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall MacGinnis. It was produced by Hal E. Chester and Frank Bevis,^[1] 

It  was adapted from the M. R. James story “Casting the Runes“. a short story written by the English writer M.R. James,  first published in 1911 which was James’ second collection of ghost stories and it was the fourth story in  the book, More Ghost Stories

 The film’s storyline concerns an American psychologist  Dana Andrew who travels to England to investigate a Satanic Cult which is  suspected in more than one death.

Artistic differences  between producer Hal E. Chester on one side, and director Tourneur and writer Charles Bennett on the other over Chester’s plan to show the demon on screen, but Chester prevailed. Which worked for the movie. Made the story more darker.

In  Author Tony Earnshaw’s book Beating the Devil: The Making of Night of the Demon he states that showing the demon was planned early on in the production, in order to heighten the tension in the film by letting the audience know the demonic powers were real. Bennett, angry at the script changes, said “If [Chester] walked up my driveway right now, I’d shoot him dead”.

 The 96-minute original feature was trimmed down to 82 minutes prior to its release in the United States, To accelerate the pace and make the film more commercial.

This shortened version was retitled Curse of the Demon,

The movie was not a commercial success on its initial release in 1957, but it has been highly  acclaimed by critics and filmmakers and is considered one of the greatest horror films of all time.

Cast:

• Dana Andrews as Dr. John Holden
• Peggy Cummins as Joanna Harrington
• Niall MacGinnis as Dr. Julian Karswell
• Athene Seyler as Mrs. Karswell
• Liam Redmond as Professor Mark O’Brien
• Peter Elliott as Professor Kumar
• Maurice Denham as Professor Harrington
• Reginald Beckwith as Mr. Meek
• Rosamund Greenwood as Mrs Meek
• Brian Wilde as Rand Hobart
• Charles Lloyd Pack as Chemist (as Charles Lloyd-Pack)
• Ewan Roberts as Lloyd Williamson

Screenwriter Charles Bennett owned the rights to the original story “Casting the Runes” and wrote a screenplay loosely based on it, under the title The Haunted. He sold his script to independent producer and former child actor Hal E. Chester shortly before going to America.

 Bennett said that he  later regretted selling the script, because he was approached by RKO, who wanted to purchase it and allow Bennett to direct the film.

Had this production taken place,  actors Robert Taylor and Dick Powell had been in line for the leading roles.

Having acquired the project, Chester decided the Bennett screenplay was too tame, or, “too British”. Blacklisted writer Cy Endfield was hired to create the final screenplay. Despite his contribution, Endfield was ultimately uncredited.

 One of the disagreements Tourneur and Chester had  during filmingnwas about the wind scene; Tourneur wanted to replace two electric fans with two aeroplane engines. When Chester hesitated, star Dana Andrews threatened to leave the picture if Chester did not let “the director direct the picture”.

Locations for the film include Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire (as Lufford Hall), Stonehenge, Bricket Wood railway station and the Reading Room of the British Museum.^[12]

 Chester and his British co-producer, Frank Bevis, had decided to show the demon at the beginning and end of the film. Tourneur later said that he was against the addition: “The scenes where you see the demon were shot without me…the audience should never have been completely certain of having seen the demon”

 Ray Harryhausen was requested by Columbia Pictures to create the demon for the production, but he was already committed to his Dynamation film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad 

Night of the Demon was released in November 1957 in the United Kingdom.^[13] It was shown on a double feature with  20 Million Miles to Earth.^[3] In the United States, it was released as Curse of the Demon. According to Charles Bennett, the title was changed because the studio did not want it confused with the similarly titled The Night of the Iguana.

It had the same reduced length of 82 minutes for its June 1958 American release.

The scenes removed included a visit to the Hobart family farm, a trip to Stonehenge, and snippets of the séance scenes and conversations between Karswell and his mother. The visit to the British Library scene was rearranged in the film’s viewing continuity.

In the United States, the film was released on VHS in 1986 by Columbia Tristar Home Video with a run time of 83 minutes. A second VHS with the Continental 96-minute running time was released by Goodtimes Home Video Corp in 1988.

In the same year, the film was released on LaserDisc by Image Entertainment/Columbia Pictures with an 81-minute running time. Including both the Continental version (Night of the Demon) and the 83-minute US version (Curse of the Demon), the film was released on DVD in August 2002.

In the United Kingdom, Night of the Demon was released on VHS in 1995 by Encore Entertainment/Columbia Tristar Home Video. The film was released on DVD in the United Kingdom for the first time on 18 October 2010. This release also includes both the Continental and US versions of the film. A Blu-ray edition from Powerhouse Films’ Indicator label, featuring four different cuts of the film, was released as a UK all-region  release on 22 October 2018.

The Plot of the film

 Professor Harrington begs his rival, Dr. Julian Karswell, to rescind a curse he inflicted on him; in return, Harrington will cease his investigation into Karswell’s Satanic cult. After learning that a parchment he gave Harrington has been destroyed, Karswell promises to do what he can.

 When Harrington arrives home, he sees a gigantic demon in the trees. Harrington tries to escape in his car but crashes into power lines. Why he would get out of his vehicle and then climb over the power rails is beyond me.

Dr. John Holden arrives in Britain to attend a convention where he had intended to expose Karswell’s cult. He is informed that the only link between Harrington’s death and Karswell’s cult is a man suspected of murder, who has fallen into a catatonic coma. While Harrington’s collaborators consider the possibility of supernatural forces, Holden rejects the notion.

Holden meets Karswell in the reading room of the British Museum. When a rare book that Holden requests goes missing, Karswell offers to show him his own copy at his mansion.

 At Harrington’s funeral, Holden meets Harrington’s niece, Joanna. She gives him Harrington’s diary, which details Harrington’s fear of Karswell’s power. Remaining sceptical, Holden, goes with Joanna to Karswell’s mansion the next day.

Karswell is having a kids day with the neighborhood kids and he is dressed up like a creepy clown. After seeing Joanna and Holden, he summons a strong wind. Kaeswell takes credit saying that he  created it with a spell. When Holden mocks him, Karswell claims that Holden will die in three days.

Holden and his colleagues discuss Karswell and make plans to examine Rand Hobart. Holden goes to dinner with Joanna and she shows him her uncle’s diary. Harrington’s diary mentions a parchment with runic writing on it that was passed to him by Karswell.

Holden finds a similar parchment that Karswell secretly passed to him at the library. A powerful wind comes through the window, blowing the parchment from his fingers towards the fireplace, only to be stopped by a fire screen. Holden then  recovers and pockets it.

Holden visits Hobart’s family to seek permission to hypnotise Hobart and find out about the death he is suspected of. The mother gives her consent but says that the family are “believers.”

As Holden leaves, the parchment is blown from his hand. Hobart’s family becomes declares Holden to be “chosen.”

 Later, Holden compares the parchment’s runes to ones inscribed on the nearby stone circle at Stonehenge.

Joanna takes Holden to a séance at the invitation of Karswell’s mother. A medium claims to channel Harrington, who tells them that Karswell has the key to reading the runes in his copy of the rare book.  Holden abruptly exits, dismissing the séance as nonsense,

Joanna says she intends to search for the key and they drive to Karswell’s mansion. Holden breaks into the house while she waits outside.

 Inside, he is attacked by a cat that seems to morph into a panther. Holden is rescued by Karswell entering and switching on the light, saying he knew Holden would come.

 Holden leaves through the woods, against Karswell saying he shouldn’t and he is chased by a cloud of smoke and fire before escaping.

Under hypnosis, the Hobart reveals to Holden that he was “chosen” to die by having a runic parchment passed to him, but avoided death by passing it back to the person who had given it to him.

 Holden shows Hobart the parchment he had received from Karswell,  thinking he is trying to give it to him. He becomes hysterical and jumps through a window to his death.

Holden learns Karswell is taking a train to Southampton, and on the train discovers that he has kidnapped and hypnotized Joanna.

 As the time for Holden’s predicted death draws near, the train stops at the next station, and Karswell tries to leave. Holden manages to sneak the parchment into Karswell’s coat pocket, and when Karswell finds it, it flies from his hand. He chases it down the tracks, but as he reaches it the parchment combusts.

 As an oncoming train approaches, the demon manifests and attacks Karswell, stomping and pounding the shit out of him.

 When his corpse is found by the tracks, the police believe that he was struck and dragged by the train. Holden, instead of going to inspect the body, departs with Joanna.

Thoughts on the Movie

• Loved the music intro.
• Movie opens on a shot of Stonehenge then there is a voiceover that says, The idea has always been there that Stonehenge was always part of cults and witchcraft. This movie capitalizes on that. A voiceover says that.  Which I really liked.
• It was cool to see a young Maurice Denham. I have only seen him in later years in Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes.
• Love that shot of Karswell looking at the clock when it chimes 9. He looks scared.
• The Demon effects were cool in a Jim Hensen kinda way.
• The demon reminds me of the Destroyer in Doctor Who Battlefield.
• The part in the windstorm and Karswell is standing there will send anyone who is afraid of clown running for their lives.
• The character Kumar reminds me of the character K’anpo in Doctor Who Planet of the Spiders
• The Seance singing killed me
• Its during the séance that we get the famous pop culture line: “it’s in the trees, it’s coming”
• The leopard and cat transformation scene was cool. No CGI all practical.
• The smoke in the demons foot prints was cool
• Love seeing the parchment paper going up in flames
• The demon smoke chasing Holden in the forest was very effective
• We get a really good jump scare at the hour and 19 minute mark when the catatonic Hobart yells and jumps

•  I give this movie a solid 10/10. It’s a must have in any horror collection. Solid writing, direction, cinematography and acting. Especially by  Athene Seyler as Mrs. Karswell